Kitten obsessed with laptops when working from home?!

[MrD20]

Hi all (photo attached as per the rules!)
This is our new kitten Dennis, he is 8 weeks old. He’s such a lovable little guy... very playful and cuddly. However we are currently working from home... we have an open plan kitchen/living area and we don’t have anywhere else to work from other than the kitchen table. I tend to wake up, feed him... play with him for about an hour and then We settle down on the kitchen table to work. (On weekends/ days off and evenings we obviously also do plenty of playtime).

The issue is, on weekdays he is OBSESSED with being on the table. This isn’t an issue if he would sit on it and play on there with his toy (or sleep on the paper as my old cat used to- which is fine)

But he is hell bent on destroying everything on the table - knocking the pens off, ripping up/chewing the papers - he sits on the laptop and bites the corners of it - chews our headphones, he even switches the laptops off with his paw!!

We have tried continually putting him down off the table / rewarding him when he goes down / ignoring him .... but he doesn’t seem to be getting the message. Does anyone have any tips on what to do?!

We really try to stimulate him as much as possible and we have so many fishing rod and batting toys / lasers etc that we play with him in the morning/ lunchtimes and evening ... it’s just these in between bits when we really can’t play :(

Any advice would be so appreciated x

Ok how about a decoy lap top or keyboard?

Get one of the battery operated laser pointer toys. Dennis will probably love it and it will keep him busy, and off the table. My cats love theirs.

www.amazon.co.uk/Yvelife-Laser-Automatic-Interactive-Kitten/dp/B07RVPN6SC/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=cat+laser+toy&sprefix=cat+laser+&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1604937058&sr=8-10

Cripes. Sorry about the long link.

A suggestion I saw somewhere was to get your cat their own laptop and set it up next to yours. That way they can lie on their own warm keyboard and stay close to you and feel like they are doing the same thing. (Yes, I know it's a slightly insane suggestion but if you have an old laptop lying around...)

Thank you all! Will consider laptop decoys also I hadn’t thought of that maybe I should get down the toy shop 😂

@SparklingLime That also makes me sad to read that you feel that way. Although this is the first cat myself and my partner have had together, I’ve had cats in my family for years... we’ve always had just the one, and all of ours seemed to lead very happy, fulfilling and stimulated lives. We have plenty of toys and cat trees/chasing games/ treat puzzles - and he will soon be going out to explore with the other cats on the street. Additionally some people aren’t fortunate enough financially to afford two cats, so I would hope everyone that has just the one hasn’t subjected their cat to a sad and boring life!

@Aquamarine1029 thank you!! That looks amazing

Many rescues only adopt out in pairs or when there is already feline company in the new home. They will then entertain each other for hours and be less reliant on human input.

We got the two in the hopes of them keeping each other company when we were out (then lockdown.. sigh) and yes, the playing was very cute when kittens - bit more alarming when about 10kg combined of cats is screeching around the house with very little care about what's fixed down, and what's human and what's furniture :D

Oh I love him. It certainly looks like he's gonna be a mummy's boy.

Hot water bottle in a fleece cosy or blanket occasionally scrit him under the neck.

Was he any better today?.

Thank you so much for all of your advice!! I actually ordered a small plastic children’s laptop off Amazon for delivery Thursday!

As for today... I popped a cardboard box and all his toys actually up onto the kitchen table, then put his blanket up there with a microwave heat pack tucked underneath. A few moments with the laptop but on the whole we worked alongside eachother in harmony!! every now and again he would wake up and we’d have a play with his fishing rod toy and my papers but he was much more content having his own area which was still within all the action! Here he is fighting sleep just before I packed my bits away

There you go, all you had to do was buy him stuff and rearrange your life to suit him 😀

Placemarking for pictures of Uber cute kitten with his own laptop!

Oh Dennis!! I love him! I’d get no work done at all with him to play with.

Try doing a jigsaw. My 2 will both sit on it and proceed to have a good wash. One will even growl at me if I try to move any pieces.

I'm afraid it can be just an occupational hazard. One of our cats has a basket on my desk (long term WFH) that she spends a lot of time in, but when she gets out all routes involve going over the keyboard. I swear she knows every single keyboard shortcut for WINDOWS, plus some that were never documented. The record is 45 minutes for me to undo the changes she made by walking over it!

Oh, and if I don't watch her carefully she'll use the keyboard as a scratching pad. I never did find the 'C' key.

@nettytree

I feel your pain, mine is attracted to the light on the side of my laptop as well as the keypad. If Dennis is anything like mine he will cry like a baby if you shut him out of the room.

@Toddlerteaplease

Placemarking for pictures of Uber cute kitten with his own laptop!

I’ve just found this thread and as per above poster I’d love to see Dennis the wonderful Menace with his own personal laptop!

I too require pictures of Dennis with his own laptop... :)

Echoing the above too - please can we have a picture of Dennis and his laptop. He's gorgeous

Just to warn you that long deceased Madcat1 managed to stand on Alt+Ctrl+Del simultaneously many years ago.

Our cats are incredibly jealous of computers and phones (so they do sometimes have to get booted out of the room). A combination of age and getting used to us being home 24/7 means they now tend to sleep from 10-4.

@MrD20 come on, we need to see pictures of Dennis and laptop!

One of my cats sent all my colleagues a message at a recent zoom meeting. I can't recall the exact message, something like 4ss55zc\z

Hello all!! Thank you for your interest in Dennis the Menace!! We are definitely working more in harmony now. Unfortunately kiddies laptop online was out of stock, however we managed to source an old laptop that he likes to sit on! That and a combination of either some papers or a fluffy blanket on the table is a hit. He’s such a funny, loving boy & growing so much already!